My First Artwalk YEG 2017 

Blog Post, Events

Participated in my first Artwalk this year, it was such an awesome experience. I was excited and terrified to see my work displayed next to other artists lol all of the feelings were felt!

There were also some things discovered about me and my work: a lot of my illustrations are more masculine, I still have quite a variety of different styles of work – some people thought there were 4 different artists in my tent lol and stepping out of my comfort zone to engage with people looking at my work – being some one with social anxiety, this was terrifying to say the least, but it is one of those things that help you grow as an individual to better yourself and your skills so you just gotta power on through – which was becoming a little less terrifying each time 🙂

I was on 83rd Ave all weekend (July 7, 8 & 9th, 2017) from 10am-5pm each day. The spot I had was fantastic: right across the park where there was live entertainment, between both the crafter’s market and Farmer’s market; however, the majority of people walking through this area were of an older and a more family orientated crowed – now don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with an older and more family orientated crowd, it is just that my sales were not so great. It was my first year, so there have been a couple of lessons learned, one of them being that my work appeals to a younger/more niche crowd. So next year I will see if I can be positioned along Whyte Ave as this is more of where my target market will be; I just hope the weather is as beautiful next year as it was this year!

Special thank you to my volunteers, supporters and @thepaintspot plus all the sponsors for creating this great event!

Follow my Instagram and Twitter for live updates @noelle_fontaine

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Halo Master Chief

Blog Post, fan art, illustrations

My big little brother is a Halo master! Master Chief CJ, Halo MASTER!!!

He lives, breaths, eats halo & it shows! The things he unlocks in the game & how good he is at playing it amazes me, not to mention his online gamer friends! I wish he would post his gaming skills because they are insane.


REWIND: He is my “Big Little Brother” because he is the baby of the family but is about 6 feet tall. He just turned 20 January 23rd, its hard to believe he is already 20!

So it is clear the inspiration for this illustration (which was his bday present 😛 ) is my big little brother, Justyn.


The Materials:
• Bainbridge Illustration Board
• X-Acto Knife
• Watercolour Paint
• Masking/Transfer Tape
• Faber Castell Watercolour Pencils
• Prismacolor Premier Pencil Crayons
• Steadler Pigment Liner 0.1
• Sharpie Extra Fine Point
• Jelly Roll 08 White Jelly Pen
• Reference Pic
• Pencil & Eraser
• Wooden Board
The Process:


1. On the Illustration board I sketched out the rough image, using reference image, then added the details

2. Outline final sketch & details with Steadler Pigment Liner 0.1

3. Mask off entire sketch with the transfer tape

4. With the x-acto knife lightly trim round the boarder & character. (Be sure to use a sharp blade & do not push down too hard, you do not want to cut the illustration board)

5. Peel the pieces of the tape off the background (only in areas you want to be painted)

6. Painted the background with water colour paints, starting with a light purple, gradually fading into darker a darker shade of purple to blue to black.

7. After 2 layers of this I used a dry brush, dipped it in white paint & spattered it over the entire image to create stars.

8. Once this dries, peel the tape covering the image & start blocking in colour with the watercolour pencils & blend with water, when it dried I did a second layer to add more dimensions with shadows, keeping the highlighted areas light from the start (it is easier to keep the white areas light than trying to add them back in)

9. Once this dried I used prismacolour pencil crayons (they go on creamy & blend awesome) over top to finish adding colour & dimension to the image

10. I did the pencil crayon one section at a time, using the extra fine tip sharpie to go over my existing ink lines to make them pop more, while adding some line work for shading (the pencil crayons pushed the strength of the felt back)

11. Once this was complete I used my Jelly Roll pen to add some texture to the highlighted ares & some stars to the background.

12. Peel off the rest of the transfer tape & framed the image (I made the illustration 8.5”x11” so I trimmed the matting of an 8”x10” frame to showcase the entire illustration)

Let me know what you think of this illustration, & of any critiques you may have. Don’t forget to follow me on my social to see what I am working on in real time!

Thank you for reading 🙂

Happy 20th B-Day Big Little Brother!

baking, Blog Post

My big little brother turned 20 January 23rd…so crazy!!

He is a Halo MASTER!!  – more about this in next weeks post about his birthday present, you probably saw on my social media if you follow me on instagram, twitter, facebook or tumblr lol

Here is his Halo 20 Birthday cake!


The recipe for this is similar to the one I did for my newphew’s 7th Birthday Take Typography Out Of the Box & Play A While except I used a chocolate pudding instead of vanilla or oreo; again using oreo cookie crumbs for the top decoration.

Last year I made him a chocolate mindcraft cake, which was a lot of fun, one of the first cakes I really experimented with that was not for a school project lol a couple of years ago we made a cookbook and had to make the recipe & photograph the outcome, so I had some fun with this making my Red Velvet Raven Cake.

Thank you for reading 🙂